Cuomo's curious endorsement

Cuomo has made the choice to endorse Councilman Peter Koo, who's facing a primary challenge.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo does not endorse many local candidates, but this week he backed two in Queens. One was Councilman Peter Koo, a former Republican who faces a Democratic primary against Alison Tan.

Only Cuomo knows for certain why he's taking sides in an intra-party battle, but it is worth mentioning that Tan's husband, Assemblyman Ron Kim, D-Queens, emerged as a vociferous critic of the governor's crackdown on nail salons following a New York Times series two years ago.

At the time, Cuomo was at the peak of his powers and pushback from another Democratic lawmaker was shocking. But Kim, a Korean-American, represents heavily Asian Flushing and was probably the only ally that salon owners had in the Legislature.

Asked Wednesday if that motivated Cuomo's endorsement of Koo, Kim emailed: "I have no way of knowing and can’t speculate. However, it’s puzzling that he would endorse someone who openly supports racial profiling (stop and frisk) and has used very sexist lines of attacks against my wife." He included a link detailing Koo's accusation that Tan smokes heavily, putting her young children at risk. Tan says she was once a social smoker but quit after her grandmother died of cancer.

"Gov. Cuomo has always stood by women's rights," Noh emailed. "Given Peter Koo's record of funding anti-choice fake clinics and use of overtly sexist attacks against Alison, I find it hard to believe that politics wasn't involved."

Basil Smikle Jr., who handles campaign inquiries for the governor, did not respond to a message.

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